One example of a medical device instrument is an apheresis instrument. An apheresis instrument is used to separate blood components from whole blood. Such apheresis instruments are commercially available from various sources, including the Amicus® instrument and the ALYX™ blood processing system which are available from Fenwal Inc. of Lake Zurich, Ill. Such instruments, also known as “separators”, typically separate a selected blood component from whole blood by passing the blood of a donor through the instrument to separate one or more blood components from the whole blood. The remainder of the whole blood is then returned to the circulatory system of the donor. It is, therefore, an extracorporeal blood component collection process.
The instrument utilizes a centrifuge to separate blood components. A disposable apheresis component is connected to the instrument for collection of the desired blood component. The instrument has pumps, clamps, and valves that move and direct donor blood through the component. Part of the component includes a bag into which the desired blood component is collected. Most of the remainder of the component is disposable after completion of the collection process. Such components are often referred to as “disposables”.